Sports

Girls' Soccer Takes Next Step in MCT (Photos)

WMC grabs victory over nearby Mt. Olive.

The West Morris Central girls soccer team advanced in the Morris County Tournament with an impressive 3-1 victory over Mt. Olive on Thursday, Oct. 6.

The Wolfpack got off to a strong start, pressuring the Mt. Olive goal and broke through when Sydney Sapir found Emily Thomas in the middle with a nice pass.  Thomas spun and fired a shot into the corner for a 1-0 lead. 

West Morris continued to get good opportunities but couldn't finish and with 2 minutes left in the first half, disaster struck when Mt. Olive scored the equalizer. But the Wolfpack plays until the whistle sounds and bounced back less than a minute later when Kelly Kavanaugh beat her defender on the right wing and played a cross in front of the net. 

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Kristy Cotter nailed a shot past the charging Mt. Olive keeper for a 2-1 halftime lead.

In the second half, Mt. Olive came out strong but WMC goalie Kendall Ballotti came up with two big saves. First she punched a shot destined to go in over the crossbar and minutes later made a sprawling save on a tricky shot to keep WMC in the lead. 

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The WMC defense, led by Allie Ketzler, Amy McQuaide, Amanda Pakutka and Megan Jurtschenko buckled down and shut down the Mt. Olive attack the rest of the way.  

WMC put the game out of reach when Sapir carried the ball up the left side and played a pass back to Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh found Megan Monaco, one of her favorite targets, in the box with a pass and Monaco wasted no time before blasting a shot into the net for the 3-1 final score.

All information and photos have been provided by Long Valley resident and parent Dave Kavanaugh.


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